This post is payment for all the random thoughts posts I have stolen via Maister splits the past few days.

Actually, I think you get extra points for a couple provocative threads which have generated a lot of responses. Right, Maister??

On a totally different note, this Sat is RJ's and my first "Massage for Couples" class at the community college. He says "What do we wear?". I'm guessing something comfortable and normal-looking?

p.s. RANT alert! At a very busy time of day, in the self-checkout at Sam's Club today, a clueless father whose younger son screamed for half an hour all over the store, gave the older kid (maybe 3) the handheld scanner thingy to scan their items, gave him a debit card to "check out", all the while a long line was forming behind them. And the younger kid kept screaming "I want the GUN!" (handheld scanner thingy). Lemme tell you, a 3 yr old will "scan" the same item 18 times and Dad will find it "cute". Thanks to the Sam's employee who disarmed the kid.

I just woke up from being asleep at my desk. Not briefly asleep....the kind of asleep where people come in and pose you and take pictures and those pictures end up on a slide show at the employee Christmas party. That kind.

Something like that happened to me a few years ago. I was on an inspection, and the odor in the guy's truck made me sick (it wasn't obnoxious, but the dull stink of winter coats that need to be washed). The final time of the inspection was really just a 45 minute prayer that I didn't get sick and vomit in the guy's truck. After the inspection, I drove to a park, parked the work truck, you know, the one with government plates, and rolled down the windows to get early Spring fresh air. Before I felt better, a swarm of little bugs showed up near the truck window and I closed it. I turned on the vent........and woke up a full hour later. I was in the same deep sleep you described. I looked around to see if the news cameras had shown up yet, and noticed some papers stuck in the driver's door handle. While I was sleeping, someone put Jehovah's Witness brochures in the door handle, and left me for dead. I kept a low profile for the next few days, and thankfully did not find myself in the news as that government employee who sleeps instead of works.

I don't get these people after Sandy screaming for government help after only 3 days.

Someone told you to evacuate. I get there may be reasons you couldn't, cost, didn't know anyone, etc. But there are shelters. You should have had AT LEAST 3 days food, water, etc.

There are a limited number of responders. It's not about income. Hello, moron guy from Staten Island. I have a college friend in a very wealthy suburb of Philly who isn't expecting power back for days. Granted, it's probably easier for her to make do than for others. I went thru 3 hurricanes in six weeks in '04, and FEMA and the Red Cross never showed up once in my neighborhood. We managed.

The State of FL has spent years trying to tell people to be accountable for themselves during storms, and it's not like anyone in the NE hasn't a clue (Irene last year?. It looks bad up there, but you know what, it's been the same in the south so many times.

I don't get these people after Sandy screaming for government help after only 3 days.

Someone told you to evacuate. I get there may be reasons you couldn't, cost, didn't know anyone, etc. But there are shelters. You should have had AT LEAST 3 days food, water, etc.

There are a limited number of responders. It's not about income. Hello, moron guy from Staten Island. I have a college friend in a very wealthy suburb of Philly who isn't expecting power back for days. Granted, it's probably easier for her to make do than for others. I went thru 3 hurricanes in six weeks in '04, and FEMA and the Red Cross never showed up once in my neighborhood. We managed.

The State of FL has spent years trying to tell people to be accountable for themselves during storms, and it's not like anyone in the NE hasn't a clue (Irene last year?. It looks bad up there, but you know what, it's been the same in the south so many times.

I wish you 1,000 ice and snow storms. Then I will tell you that you aren't special too.

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"Jeremiah 22:16

People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor

I don't get these people after Sandy screaming for government help after only 3 days.

Someone told you to evacuate. I get there may be reasons you couldn't, cost, didn't know anyone, etc. But there are shelters. You should have had AT LEAST 3 days food, water, etc.

There are a limited number of responders. It's not about income. Hello, moron guy from Staten Island. I have a college friend in a very wealthy suburb of Philly who isn't expecting power back for days. Granted, it's probably easier for her to make do than for others. I went thru 3 hurricanes in six weeks in '04, and FEMA and the Red Cross never showed up once in my neighborhood. We managed.

The State of FL has spent years trying to tell people to be accountable for themselves during storms, and it's not like anyone in the NE hasn't a clue (Irene last year?. It looks bad up there, but you know what, it's been the same in the south so many times.

ZG- Please do us all a favor and temper your hatred for northerners (or yankees, as you often refer to us) in the wake of this horrible disaster. There's people that are really suffering in NY/NJ and this is not the time to pile on.

Going to Chicago next Friday. The wife has a conference and does not like to travel alone. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should see?

I like the suggestions of the Frank Lloyd Wright walking tour and the field museum, I always liked the Shed aquarium too. I love Chicago and could (and have) spent entire days just wandering around the Loop and the Magnificent Mile and people watching. If you've never been to Evanston, you can take the train up there and wander around. There is some nice, traditional residential architecture, quite a few parks, and the Northwestern Campus.

Originally posted by michaelskis

Just looked up the times on the South Shore Line for next week. Under $20 round trip for two... so much better than driving into Chicago.

I always want to take the train to Chicago from Detroit but never do... I usually end up driving in, parking near O'Hare and then taking the train from there but you are the second person in about as many weeks who I have heard mention getting on the South Shore Line and riding in from there. I will definitely be checking that out next time I go.

I don't get these people after Sandy screaming for government help after only 3 days.

Someone told you to evacuate. I get there may be reasons you couldn't, cost, didn't know anyone, etc. But there are shelters. You should have had AT LEAST 3 days food, water, etc.

There are a limited number of responders. It's not about income. Hello, moron guy from Staten Island. I have a college friend in a very wealthy suburb of Philly who isn't expecting power back for days. Granted, it's probably easier for her to make do than for others. I went thru 3 hurricanes in six weeks in '04, and FEMA and the Red Cross never showed up once in my neighborhood. We managed.

The State of FL has spent years trying to tell people to be accountable for themselves during storms, and it's not like anyone in the NE hasn't a clue (Irene last year?. It looks bad up there, but you know what, it's been the same in the south so many times.

We get it. You don't like "yankees." But come on, you're not comparing apples to apples here. This was a storm that has crippled the only form of transportation millions of people in the region have: trains, transit, etc. To say it's the same as people jumping in their cars in FL to evacuate is ludicrous. Storms like this are not the same as what has been experienced in your neck of the woods. Have a little bit of compassion, and restraint, please.

"Growth is inevitable and desirable, but destruction of community character is not. The question is not whether your part of the world is going to change. The question is how." -- Edward T. McMahon, The Conservation Fund

I make a habit every Friday of going through my email inbox and try to whittle it down so that there are less than 100 emails in my inbox. This doesn't include the emails that I've moved to other folders. On average, how many emails are in your work inbox?

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"

I make a habit every Friday of going through my email inbox and try to whittle it down so that there are less than 100 emails in my inbox. This doesn't include the emails that I've moved to other folders. On average, how many emails are in your work inbox?

Are you tempting maister on a thread split?

"Whatever beer I'm drinking, is better than the one I'm not." DMLW
"Budweiser sells a product they reflectively insist on calling beer." John Oliver

I make a habit every Friday of going through my email inbox and try to whittle it down so that there are less than 100 emails in my inbox. This doesn't include the emails that I've moved to other folders. On average, how many emails are in your work inbox?

I try to keep my inbox cleaned up all the time. I use Outlook and try to keep it so that I can see all of the email subject lines on one screen without having to scroll through. I am an email minimalist. Currently I gave about 50 emails in my inbox, which is about double what I normally like. However, I've been in and out of the office quite a bit over the past couple of weeks so I have gone through and moved the messages to their respective other folders (though I generally keep my inbox pretty sparse, I do however save nearly every message (that isn't spam or other useless ephemera) in one of about 20 specific personal folders I've created).